On sharing knowledge

1. I feel, my dear Lucilius, that I am being not only reformed, but transformed. I do not yet, however, assure myself, or indulge the hope, that there are no elements left in me which need to be changed. Of course there are many that should be made more compact, or made thinner, or be brought into greater prominence. And indeed this very fact is proof that my spirit is altered into something better, – that it can see its own faults, of which it was previously ignorant. In certain cases sick men are congratulated because they themselves have perceived that they are sick.2. I therefore wish to impart to you this sudden change in myself; I should then begin to place a surer trust in our friendship,—the true friendship which hope and fear and self-interest cannot sever, the friendship in which and for the sake of which men meet death. 3. I can show you many who have lacked, not a friend, but a friendship; this, however, cannot possibly happen when souls are drawn together by identical inclinations into an alliance of honourable desires. And why can it not happen? Because in such cases men know that they have all things in common, especially their troubles.
You cannot conceive what distinct progress I notice that each day brings to me. 4. And when you say: “Give me also a share in these gifts which you have found so helpful,” I reply that I am anxious to heap all these privileges upon you, and that I am glad to learn in order that I may teach. Nothing will ever please me, no matter how excellent or beneficial, if I must retain the knowledge of it to myself. And if wisdom were given me under the express condition that it must be kept hidden and not uttered, I should refuse it. No good thing is pleasant to possess, without friends to share it.5. I shall therefore send to you the actual books; and in order that you may not waste time in searching here and there for profitable topics, I shall mark certain passages, so that you can turn at once to those which I approve and admire. Of course, however, the living voice and the intimacy of a common life will help you more than the written word. You must go to the scene of action, first, because men put more faith in their eyes than in their ears, and second, because the way is long if one follows precepts, but short and helpful, if one follows patterns. 6. Cleanthes could not have been the express image of Zeno, if he had merely heard his lectures; he shared in his life, saw into his hidden purposes, and watched him to see whether he lived according to his own rules. Plato, Aristotle, and the whole throng of sages who were destined to go each his different way, derived more benefit from the character than from the words of Socrates. It was not the class-room of Epicurus, but living together under the same roof, that made great men of Metrodorus, Hermarchus, and Polyaenus. Therefore I summon you, not merely that you may derive benefit, but that you may confer benefit; for we can assist each other greatly.7. Meanwhile, I owe you my little daily contribution; you shall be told what pleased me to-day in the writings of Hecato;it is these words: “What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.” That was indeed a great benefit; such a person can never be alone. You may be sure that such a man is a friend to all mankind. Farewell.

I believe that just as Nature has created men with different faces, so she has created them with different intellects and imaginations. Wherefrom it comes that each man leads himself according to his own intellect and imagination.

And since on the other hand the times are various and the situations are diverse, he who matches his way of doing to the situation in which he operates, will fulfill his projects according to his desires, and will be successful. Conversely, he who isolates himself from the current time and situation will be unsuccessful.

Hence, it can very well be that two men, albeit having acted differently, achieve the same result, for it can happen that each one of the two conforms his actions to what he encounters, and for there are as many different situations as there are provinces and states.

But as the times and situations are often changing, both on a general and a particular scale, and men change neither their desires nor their ways of doing, it so happens that one has good fortune at one time, and bad fortune at another. And truly he who should be so wise to understand the times and situations, and to adapt to them, would have good fortune at all times or would always avert bad fortune, and it would come true that the wise command to the stars and fates.

But for none of these wise men can be found—considering men are short-sighted, and cannot command to their own nature—it follows that it is erratic Fortune that commands men, and keeps them under her yoke.